Limits

My days started to look pretty much the same again. I would search for herbs during the day while avoiding any dangerous groups of animals and beasts. I hunted when necessary but only groups of animals I could handle, I didn't want to risk anything. The Variants started to show and even the Elites were now more apparent.

'This is the Great Forest I remember. Variants upon variants' I thought and tried to comb through as many areas as I was able to. Moving deeper into the forest, was not ideal in my current state. During the week of my monotony, I managed to find 3 out of 4 replacement herbs that I needed, the only one that was missing was Glacial Lotus. 'I didn't find any ponds or lakes past that week, it's a bit worrying. I don't need anything big, something that has no flow of water like the river. I need to find someplace like this or I'm screwed!' I thought and continued my search.

Usually it was not so hard to find a pond or a lake inside the forest but because of snow, a lot of ponds might've been covered. Large lakes would be visible from far away but for some reason, I saw no such lakes past few weeks. 'I can't give up, I still have a bit over a week of time' I thought and searched for a lake or a pond.

I tried following the animals sometimes and their tracks. Animals needed water and some might not use the river but a pond or a lake as their water supply. Another two days passed and I finally found a pond that was a decent size. 'Finding a pond is just the beginning. The pond has to contain the Glaciar Lotus. If it doesn't, I will have to search again'. I hoped for the pond to have some Glaciar Lotuses and began inspecting it. After inspecting it for a while, I noticed some Glacial Lotuses growing on it. 'I'm in luck, there are 3 Glacial Lotuses but there is a problem as well' I thought as I looked at the herbs growing on the frozen pond.

There was a group of boars living there. It wouldn't be a big problem if a White Boar was not there. 'I have no other choice, I hope the situation doesn't repeat itself. I have to kill the White Boar first and foremost' I thought and moved towards the group of boars. There wasn't much, I could use for stealth. This was winter season and all the leaves, grass and whatnot, were not present. I figured I could try posing as a weak human, the boars would get closer to me and probably try to hunt me down but not with all their power.

I walked slowly towards the group and even displayed my cut arm properly to show that I was week. When the group noticed me, I also pretended to notice them "just now". I then turned around and started running slowly in the opposite direction. The boars took the bait and went after me. Even better news was that the White Boar was at the front of the group. 'It probably figured that I'm "weak" and there should be no dangers. This is good, it will be much easier to kill it that way' I thought and ran at a constant speed while turning my head around sometimes to show "panic" on my face.

The boars caught up quickly and only the White Boar stepped out of the ranks. It was probably in order to display how the boss of the pack, deals with something like me. I ran without stopping and when I saw the White Boar make its move, I used my Domineering Aura and sped towards the boar instead.

With my increase in speed, the White Boar was quite surprised and dazed, it was also slightly affected by my aura. I took that chance and threw a few daggers at it, then took out another dagger in order to engage in close combat. The daggers hit the mark and the White Boar woke up from the daze with a roar. The White Boar was now injured but still quite dangerous, most importantly, its cry for help was most dangerous. It started to back away but it was too late. I gained my momentum and the dagger in my hand already slashed.

"Swooosh!"

The dagger cut through the White Boar's head and killed it instantly. 'I can take it easy now' I thought and finished off the other boars that stared in disbelief. Some tried to run but those Normal Boars and Yellow Variants, could only dream about outspeeding me.

After the fight, I picked up the Glacial Lotuses immediately. The lotuses were very cold to touch and if not for my resilience due to all the training I did, my hand could be injured by the coldness. I collected the herbs first, in case I had to flee suddenly. I had what I came for, I then took care of butchering the White Boar. It had the tastiest meat when roasted, I didn't take any other meat as I didn't want to carry too much.

While I was looking for suitable place to set my camp for a while, I thought about all the ingredients 'I have enough herbs to create 3 batches of the Trantum Solution. I need 1 Glacial Lotus for each batch and because I have only 3, I can only try 3 times. First, I should find a place suitable for my little experiment. I can then create my solution and catch an animal of some sort to test out my solution on it'.

After searching for over an hour, I found a suitable place to set my camp up. 'There is a small stream which will provide clear water. I also have some thin trees that I can use as a resource to create my tools' I thought and went straight to work. I needed tools so trees had to be cut down. Of course, I chose thin trees that were very young still. This way, I wouldn't have to trim them too much and I wouldn't need to spend a lot of effort in order to cut them down.

I cut down couple of trees and started making stuff like jars, bowls and all sorts of containers. Those things would be used to store my medicine, solution and the poison. I also tried making some tools like pincers, tweezers and other general tools used for extraction as well as application. It took me the rest of the day just to carve those things but I was finally done and I had my tool set.

My plan for the next day was to catch a small animal, then create the solution and test the solution on that animal. 'We will see how a roughly made solution works tomorrow. When I have the results, I can try some improvements in case it doesn't work. I have limited tries though. On the 3rd try, I will have to use it on myself and it has to work' I thought and went to sleep. The next few days would prove whenever I was able to accomplish that medical procedure or not.